Ram Gopal

12:01AM BST 24 Oct 2003

Ram Gopal, who has died aged 86, was widely regarded as a dancer of genius, and among the most notable exponents of Indian choreography outside his native country.

He was born in Bangalore in south India; his passport gave his date of birth as November 20 1917, but the exact date remained a matter of some dispute - Gopal's autobiography did not trouble with the detail. His father, a cultivated Rajput lawyer from north India, and his mother, a Burmese of great beauty, wanted their son to enter the law.

They were not amused when he announced that he had decided to become a dancer. In the 1930s dance in India was seen as disreputable chiefly because the devadasis (temple dancers) were often no better than prostitutes, even if of a "sacred" sort.

Defying his parents and the warnings of friends, Ram Gopal left home to train under the two leading gurus of the day. Dasi Attam, the solo dance style of the devadasis which is now known as Bharata Natyam, he learnt from Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai; Kathakali, the powerful male dance drama of Kerala, he learnt from Kunju Kurup.

From the very beginning Gopal's talent was evident and he soon came to notice. He first toured abroad with the American La Meri and later, on his own, took America by storm.

In 1939, his London debut at the Aldwych Theatre led to a successful career in this country. The critics and the dance-loving public vied with each other in praise, he met Queen Mary, leading figures of the world of ballet became his friends and, in 1948, Nijinsky came to inspect him. He did his bit for the home country by returning to India with Ensa during the Second World War.

As a choreographer his best-known creations were Legend of the Taj Mahal, Dance of the Setting Sun and Dances of India. His own dancing, always faithful to his strict training, could portray characters, emotions and ideas with equal facility.

In 1960 Alicia Markova danced Radha to his Krishna, and their collaboration is commemorated at the National Portrait Gallery where Richard Browne's bronze bust of the great ballerina stands next to a full-length portrait of Gopal by his friend Feliks Topolski. Although steeped in the culture of India, he was cosmopolitan; he loved lunching at the Polish Club in Kensington.

In the 1960s he lived in some style in Chelsea; here he held court, surrounded by writers, poets, painters, actors, musicians and film directors. At this time, he - to the surprise of some - married Edith Alexander, but their happy and well-adjusted marriage ended only a few years later with her death.

Ram Gopal's most prized possession was his British passport and he was delighted to be appointed OBE in 1999. His outspoken remarks about the way in which he believed he was treated by the authorities in independent India, by contrast, did not endear him to many in the country of his birth. He was never officially honoured by the Indian state, although the country's national academy of music, drama and dance did, during his later years, confer on him an honorary title.

At the end of his life in a south London nursing home, frail and vulnerable, he presented a sad figure. A few old admirers would occasionally call to see him but he was fortunate in the constant support of his old friend Pam Cullen, until his death on October 12.

Gopal wrote Indian Dancing (1951) and, in 1957, his memoirs Rhythm in the Heavens. He also ran dance schools, initially in his native country, and, during the 1960s, in London. He had no children.